Agent Caravan, Tuesday, March 30th :: 11:30 to 2:30 :: 475 Kenbrook Dr, 725 Londonberry and 355 Mt. Paran

Agent Caravan, Tuesday, March 30th :: 11:30 to 2:30 :: 475 Kenbrook Dr, 725 Londonberry and 355 Mt. Paran

  Agent Caravan, Tuesday, March 30th  ::  11:30 to 2:30  ::  475 Kenbrook Dr, 725 Londonberry and 355 Mt. Paran

Filing for Homestead exemtions in 2010

Homeowners may need to provide their Warranty Deed book and page, proof of residence, social security numbers, driver’s license and car tag info

Fulton County – deadline is April 1, 2010 – 404-612-6440

http://www.fultonassessor.org/Forms/HtmlFrame.aspx?mode=content/Exemptions.htm&taxyear=2007&ownseq=1&jur=&LMparent=180

DeKalb County – deadline is March 1, 2010 – 404-298-4000

http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/taxcommissioner/index.asp?pg=homestead

Gwinnett County – deadline is March 1, 2010 – 770-822-8800

http://gwinnetttaxcommissioner.manatron.com/Tabs/Property/HomesteadExemption.aspx

Cobb County – deadline is April 1, 2010 – 770-528-8600

http://www.cobbtax.org/Forms/HtmlFrame.aspx?mode=content/Exemptions.htm&LMparent=189

Clayton County – deadline is April 1, 2010 – 770-477-3311

http://www.co.clayton.ga.us/tax_commissioner/exemptions.htm

Cherokee County – deadline is April 1, 2010 – 678-493-6122

http://www.cherokeega.com/departments/department_section.cfm?displaySection=Homestead%20Exemptions.txt&departmentid=30

Henry County – deadline is April 1, 2010 – 770-288-8180　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

http://www.co.henry.ga.us/taxcommissioner/PropertyTaxExemptions.shtml

Forsyth County – deadline is April 1, 2010 – 770-781-2106　

http://www.qpublic.net/ga/forsyth/faq.html

Douglas County – deadline is April 1, 2010 – 770-920-7272

http://www.douglastaxcommissioner.com/

Fayette County – deadline is March 1, 2010 – 770-461-3652

http://www.fayettecountytaxcomm.com/HOMESTEA.html

Paulding County – deadline is April 1, 2010 – 770-443-7606

http://www.paulding.gov/index.aspx?NID=210　

　

Provided courtesy of Neel & Robinson, Attorneys at Law LLC

Jane Hedgepeth, Attorney

lenox@neelandrobinson.com　　　

22 Lenox Pointe, Atlanta, GA　 30324　　

404-705-3690

The Wakefield

The Wakefield, 2724 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA 30305

The Wakefield is a luxury cooperative located on the Northwest corner of Peachtree Road and West Wesley Road.  It is generally regarded as Buckhead’s must exclusive residential highrise.  It is home to just 24 residents and is a cooperative.  The property offers world-class design and quality.  Amenities and building systems are consistent with properties several times its size.

The average size residence at The Wakefield is about 4,500 square feet. Residences range in size from about 1,000 square feet to about 6,700 square feet.  This measurement is an approximation of enclosed usable area. The building averages just 2 residences per floor for its 12 floors.

In the mid 1990s, Brookwood Group, as both designer and development manager for the George Heery, Sr. family, broke ground on the highest quality high-rise multi-family project built to date in Atlanta.  The building permit for The Wakefield was the first private sector high rise building permit issued within the City of Atlanta in over two years at the time it was issued and the building was sold out shortly after its completion.

It is readily evident today to those in the real estate development field that The Wakefield set in motion the raising of design and construction quality standards of mid to high rise multi-family housing projects. The Wakefield also sparked the acceptance in the Atlanta market of the idea that very high quality homes could be located in high rise structures with settings that allowed easier access to work, shopping, places of worship and community activities.

All Agreements to purchase at the Wakefield are contingent on board approval.

Fear, Greed and Animal Spirits: When spontaneous optimism replaces fear

I was recently reminded of the economic idea of Animal Spirits, which is perhaps the holy grail of consumer confidence.  We look forward to your comments.

Fear and Greed are market drivers

Anybody that has attended a handful of weddings knows 1 Corinthians 13:13.  It ends with these lovely words, “…And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”[1] It is interesting that the King James Version of the Bible replaces Charity with the word Love.  Charity is an economic idea, and we have an economic assertion to make.  Let’s make believe that Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, and John Maynard Keynes are the saints in a little economic sect.

If there were a modern economic bible written by John Maynard Keynes, we think much of the message would be about Fear, Greed and Animal Spirits.  Keynes defined Animal Spirits as follows:

“Even apart from the instability due to speculation, there is the instability due to the characteristic of human nature that a large proportion of our positive activities depend on spontaneous optimism rather than mathematical expectations, whether moral or hedonistic or economic. Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be taken as the result of animal spirits – a spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction, and not as the outcome of a weighted average of quantitative benefits multiplied by quantitative probabilities.”[2]

For a while real estate sellers and buyers have been dominated by fear.  Sellers fear losses, uncertainty, credit damage and even homelessness.  Buyers mostly fear missing the bottom.  Fear is a powerful emotion. It gums up the wheels of commerce, limits good will and creates other unfortunate neuroses.  It is so pervasive, whole markets have penalized measured risk and a flight to quality has prevailed.

Is Greed any better?  Of course when Michael Douglas’ character in the movie Wall Street says “greed is good,” he was wrong.  Greed is bad. It leads to various moral and economic imperfections.  Greed and fear is so strong that alas humanity fails to escape it shackles and economic markets perform.

Mr. Market is mean – often ambivalent to emotions and moral design.  Mr. Market cruelty is that he attempts to balance greed and fear to make markets perform.  Mr. Market has typically rewarded risk until recently. Markets stopped September 2008 and they are starting to work again.

Real estate is not a liquid investment.  It has appeals to risk takers across many economic status and cycles.  It is the type of investment that because of its capital intensity and subjective decisions requires considerable initiative.  It requires a strong set of beliefs and preferences.  It requires optimism and has an array of unique benefits.  In short, it requires Animal Spirits. 

Fear’s dominance in today real estate market is starting to abate.  It abates as Animal Spirits asserts itself with confidence about intrinsic property values.  Where are your animal spirits?

---

[1] THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®,

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society®

[2] John M Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, London: Macmillan, 1936, pp. 161-162.